“But you’re always afraid I’ll cheat you out of a penny.”
“I’ve caught you in some dishonest tricks. About those tires—”
A loud, insistent tooting of an automobile horn broke up the conversation. Abandoning the argument, Mattie and Sam went to serve the impatient customer.
Penny did not tarry. Crawling from the tunnel, she glanced about for a means of escape. Fortunately, the room had an outside exit. Making use of it, she returned to the waiting taxi, without seeing either Sam or Mattie again.
“Police station, Joe,” she instructed.
“How do you want to go?” the cab driver inquired. “This road or No. 32?”
“Let’s drive past the old Harrison place.”
“Sure,” grinned Joe. “Maybe we’ll see that spook again!”
The cab bumped along the frozen road, soon coming within view of the hillside estate. Joe slowed down without being requested to do so.
“I was tellin’ the boys about that place last night,” he flung over his shoulder. “They tell me the owner is this guy Deming. He’s gone East for the winter. A big, fat, bald-headed man.”